Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born on March 17 of 1920 at 8 PM in Tungipara. Mujib centenary festivity would begin on the birth moment just at that moment.
The celebrations will begin with fireworks at 8 pm at the Suhrawardy Udyan tomorrow, marking Bangabandhu’s birth moment, the Birth Centenary Celebration National Implementation Committee’s chief coordinator Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury told a media briefing on Monday (March 16) afternoon at International Language Institute.
The organizers selected Suhrawardy Udyan for the inauguration of the Mujib Borsho with fireworks, considering the site to be historic as Bangabandhu had delivered his momentous March 7, 1971 speech leading to the Liberation War and eventual independence. Similar programs will be followed at district and upazilla levels, Dr. Chowdhury said. Dr. Chowdhury said the fireworks would be immediately followed by nationwide broadcast of President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s address.
The countdown for the celebration’s opening began on January 10 last coinciding with Bangabandhu’s homecoming day in 1972, as the founder of the newly born Bangladesh, after nine months of captivity in Pakistan. The nation, meanwhile, had waged its war for independence in line with his directions and earned the victory.
Organizers said the global coronavirus pandemic forced them to scale down the inauguration fanfare revising the schedule trying to keep most of the programs indoors to discard public gatherings. But the President and the Premier would lay wreaths at Bangabandhu’s shrine at Tungipara in Gopalganj tomorrow morning and offer fateha and munajat as per original schedule.
Sheikh Hasina, who is Bangabandhu’s elder daughter, will also place wreaths at Bangabandhu’s portrait at the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi Road No. 32 in the capital ahead of travelling to Tungipara.
At the press conference Dr Chowdhury said after the fireworks at the historic Suhrawardy Udyan, the recorded two-hour long inaugural program will kick off. The recorded program includes the speeches of the President and the Prime minister.
The program will be telecast at all electronic media, including Bangladesh Television (BTV), Bangladesh Betar, online and social media simultaneously, he added.
Bangabandhu’s younger daughter Sheikh Rehana will also express her feelings on Bangabandhu during the program, he added. The inauguration function will end after another firework at the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad, Chowdhury added. Bangabandhu’s birthday is a public holiday in Bangladesh and it is also observed as National Children’s Day.
He said presidents and Prime ministers of different countries, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nepalese President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, Bhutanese Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering and Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres and Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen will deliver messages on the occasion.